I do not own 'Naruto'
Preliminary
As soon as Team 7 and 8 entered the tower, they were greeted by a Chunin. He informed them of the true meaning of the scrolls and their symbolization.
As he did, Naruto sneaked away leaving a clone in his place.
"Hey old man!" Naruto called.
The Hokage was taken back by the sudden display of disrespect. Though he would be lying if he said he hadn't missed the old version of Naruto.
He hasn't called me that in ages. The Hokage thought.
"Hello Naruto-Kun." The Hokage greeted. "How was the Forest of Death?"
"Well, it wasn't too bad." Naruto admitted. "The only real problem was the noisy snake we had to deal with."
As Naruto said that, he kept his wide smile and false bravado. Though as the Hokage looked, he saw the blond had activated his bloodline for only him to see, showing nothing but lethal seriousness.
What are you going on about Naruto? He thought to himself. Noisy snake...Oh no, Orochimaru is affiliated with sound!
Naruto saw the spark of understanding in his leader's eyes before nodding, which was returned.
"Well you best return to your team Naruto." He advised. Gonna need to make a lot of preparations.
The Hokage and the Genin were all lined up.
He began to explain the purpose of these exams. How they were a substitute for war.
A proctor stepped in and began explaining the matches. How it would be used to weed out the weaker ones so that best would be showing their skills at the finals.
They were given the chance to forfeit. Only Kabuto did so.
SASUKE VS. YOROI
Canon Sasuke wins
-SHINO VS SAI
Both contestants entered the arena, silent and focused. Neither of them said a thing, they just began the fight.
Sai made the first move
Ninja art: Super Beasts Scroll
Several black and white cartoonist beasts flew from the scroll.
They made a directed line for Shino, who stood there unflinching. The beast tore through the Aburame, much to the shock of the Genin spectators.
Instead of blood and flesh, all that was revealed were insects. Shino had replaced himself with a Bug clone.
The insects began swarming over the ink beast and in a matter of seconds, the beast fell into a puddle of ink.
"You should surrender." Shino advised. "If these ink beasts are all you are capable of, then my insects will continue to drain them of chakra and make their way to you."
Sai thought it over, Shino was right, it was a bad pairing. The only way to defeat him would require him to show more skill than he was allowed to display. He was not to draw unwanted attention to himself.
Shino wins
"What happened?" Ino asked.
"It was a bad pairing." Naruto answered. "Shino's bug's will consume the chakra from the art, leaving Sai defenseless. Getting closer would be stupid because he'd be walking into the bugs."
"So forfeiting was the only option." Ino stated.
"No." Naruto stated. "At times, death is the necessity."
Ino shuddered at his coldness, but understood. The last exam showed many that surrender wasn't always an option.
-KANKURO VS ...STRETCHY GUY
Canon
Kankuro wins
Hinata vs Neji
Canon-No Naruto cheering
-SAKURA VS INO
"Alright Ino-Chan!" Naruto cheered.
"Now Naruto, it's not nice to cheer against your teammate." Kakashi chastised.
"Sakura, over my girlfriend?" Naruto asked as if his Sensei was insane.
"Can I get a kiss for luck?" Ino asked.
"You don't need it, but I will give you an early victory kiss." He stated.
"What about me Sasuke-Kun, can I have a good luck kiss?" Sakura asked.
"No." He answered.
"Yosh, I shall give you a kiss that will give you victory!" Lee declared.
"No way!" Sakura screamed as she practically ran down the stairs.
"Sakura." Ino greeted.
"I'm going to beat you and prove I'm the one for Sasuke-kun!" Sakura declared.
"Prove what?" Ino asked. "I already told you that I moved on."
"To Naruto, what can he possibly offer you that Sasuke-Kun can't?"
"Love and kindness." Ino answered. "As well as he has helped me train to make me stronger and smarter."
"Well I have also become stronger." Sakura declared. "I'm not that crybaby anymore."
"Well prove it." Ino stated.
Sakura charged Ino with her fist cocked. Ino took a half-step backwards and using her left hand, she pushed Sakura's fist to the side. Using her right, she delivered a blow to the Kunoichi's stomach.
Sakura grabbed her stomach before glaring at Ino. Angrily, Sakura swung a wide punch at Ino which was blocked, so was the second. Ino, seeing an opening, punched Sakura in the face. Ino didn't stop there, she gave Sakura another punch the bent her over right into her knee, breaking her nose.
With a back hand, she sent Sakura flying several feet.
"Is that it?" Ino asked.
"Wow, Ino's being pretty brutal." Asuma spoke. "Especially to an old friend."
"You can probably thank Naruto for that." Kakashi spoke.
"You should surrender Sakura." Ino advised. "You can't win.'
Ino sighed at her old friends words, they were pathetic. And to think, I used to have the same mind set. At least she wasn't as bad, her clan would have fixed her before that happened.
Ino kicked Sakura onto her back and placed a foot onto her, pinning her in place.
"You have no place in the Shinobi world." Ino stated. "Surrender."
"Never!" Sakura yelled.
Ino stared at the girl for a moment without saying a thing. She simply raised a finger and pointed it at the center of Sakura's head.
"W-What are you doing?"
"Ending this fight." Ino stated coldly. "Goodbye Sakura, I'll remember you."
"There's n-no way Naruto taught you that!" She declared, not sure herself.
A drop of water fell onto her head, silencing her.
"Hold still." Ino ordered. "I can't focus chakra like Naruto. It takes me four second to do it properly."
4...
Another drop of water fell on Sakura's head.
3...
"Come one Ino!" Sakura begged. "We're friends!" Ino said nothing as a drop of water fell onto Sakura's head.
2...
"I SURRENDER!" Sakura shouted.
Ino wins.
"Wow Naruto, didn't think you'd teach her that Jutsu." Kakashi stated.
"I didn't." Naruto answered. "She bluffed it."
"So the water...?"
"Was sweat."
-TEMARI VS TENTEN
CANON
Temari wins
-SHIKAMARU VS. CHOJI
"Oh man, I don't want to fight you Shikamaru." Choji whined.
"Neither do I." The Nara stated. "This is troublesome."
"How about if we both-"
"If either of you gives up, I'm sending Naruto after you!" Ino screamed from the side.
Both of the contestants paled at the threat. The male blond just stared at them, waiting.
"I guess we have to fight." Choji stated nervously.
"Not really." Shikamaru stated lazily. "I trapped you in my shadow the minute we began this battle."
Everyone looked down to see that it was true. Only the Jounin and Naruto were able to notice the action, they were not impressed considering how the match went.
Shikamaru wins
Gaara vs. Lee
Canon
Naruto vs Akira(Haku's Team mate)
Naruto and Akira made their way to the arena. Both were analyzing their opponent and looking for a way to finish them off.
As Naruto studied the Genin, his shoulder began to throb. He did his best to hide his pain, but it still caused him to wobble slightly.
Damn curse mark. He thought.
Naruto needed to end the fight as quickly as possible, it didn't want anything revealed. Especially with the foreign Shinobi around, they may try and take advantage of it.
Naruto drew the W.C.B and Akira's drew two tanto's.
Gonna need to stay away from that. Naruto thought. Looks like he prefers close combat.
Raising his hand, he fired a water bullet. To his surprise, Akira ducked the bullet and continued forward.
Hm, he's prepared. Naruto thought. Need to-
Naruto's body locked in pain as the Curse Mark began to flare. Akira didn't know or care what was happening, he just saw an advantage he could take. Running forward, he struck at Naruto's throat. The blond was able to gain enough control to take a wobbily back-step. This caused the blade to cut his upper chest instead of his throat.
"That was an attack to kill." Naruto muttered low enough for his opponent to hear. "Why?"
"You are a threat to my master." He stated blankly as he continued to strike.
"I am no threat to the Hokage." Naruto stated.
"I don't mean that weakling." Akira stated. "You are a threat to lord Danzo, even if he won't acknowledge it."
Naruto and Akira charged each other, blades meeting.
Naruto had to raise his left hand to block the second blade. Naruto didn't even flinch when it pierced his palm, instead he pushed it further to wrap his palm around Akira's.
Naruto's cheeks inflated, the only warning that Akira had. The young ROOT nin leaned back at a Fourty-Five degree angle, dodging the mass of water that flew out. He continued on with a backflip, kicking Naruto, to gain some distance.
"You can't win." Akira spoke. "I've been studying you, I know all your tricks."
That's what he thinks. Naruto thought. Here's something new.
If he couldn't win through direct combat, he would just fall back onto his specialty. Stealth and trickery.
Jumping back, he began forming hand signs only to freeze in pain again. Once again, Akira saw and lunged.
Now.
Naruto dived under the blade, dropping several smoke bombs in the process.
It may not be the Hidden Mist Jutsu, but it should suffice. Naruto thought.
Naruto allowed his opponent to see his eyes turn red before he disappeared into the mist. A scare tactic to throw his opponent off. Though fear wasn't something that would work on a ROOT nin, even one as young as him.
Where is he? Akira thought to himself.
The young ROOT nin felt a presence from behind and instinctively turned to face it. He saw a shadow in the mist just inches from him. Using his tanto, he impaled the shadow only to fall through it.
The last thing he felt was a pain in the back of his head before nothing.
When the smoke finally cleared, only Naruto was standing. His opponent was dead, a hole in his head.
Winner Naruto
"N-Naruto." Ino spoke nervously. "Why did you kill him?"
"It needed to be done." He answered.
"But the match didn't require it." Ino spoke up. "It was an unnecessary death!"
"I never kill unnecessarily." Naruto stated. "Every time I kill, it's for the sake of the village or my life."
Ino realized that she was getting no more answers from him, so she sighed and turned to the match.
Haku vs Kiba
The two made it to the arena.
"Here we go Akumaru." Kiba cheered.
"I'd advise you to surrender now." Haku spoke coldly. "You aren't my target, but I won't let you stand in my way."
It was then that Kiba noticed Akumaru seemed to be nervous.
Huh, she must be strong. He thought. We're gonna have to make this quick.
Kiba dropped to his hands and feet.
Ninja Art: Beast Mimicry: All Fours Jutsu
The Inuzuka flared with chakra as he began taking a more feral like appearance. He seemed to blur from the vision of most of the Genin.
Haku quickly raised a hand and caught Kiba by his wrist as he tried to claw at her face.
"You are fast." Haku stated. "But not fast enough, and I have you at a disadvantage."
"Oh yeah, what?" Kiba asked.
"The first is that the air is saturated with moisture from Naruto's Jutsu, little though it is." Haku answered as she raised her free hand. "The second is this!"
Haku began forming single-handed seals.
Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death
Just as the name stated, the water began forming a proverbial thousand needles above the duo. They fell upon the Inuzuka, who couldn't escape Haku's iron grip, in a merciless onslaught.
Haku finally released Kiba once he fell limp in her grasp.
"Do you think you can take many more of those?" Haku asked. "How about your companion?
Kiba mustered all of his strength to take a peek at Akumaru. The pup looked more like a porcupine with the needles the protruded from his back.
"I...surrender." Kiba stated growled.
"That concludes the preliminary round." Hayate spoke. "Now all of you come and draw slots for your opponents during the finals."
They drew lots.
Review
I hope none were expecting a climatic battle. That's after next chapter.
Too many ways these Chunin match ups could go, so first to give me the match up has it posted.